Knife for splitting leather



(No Model.)

F. J. BRINGHAM.

KNIFE FOR SPLITTING LEATHER.

No. 587,783. Patented Aug. 10,1897.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE. I

FRIEND J. BRINGHAM, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS.

KNIFE FOR SPLITTING LEATHER.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 587,783, dated August 10, 1897.

Application filed April 23, 1896. Renewed February 12, 1897. Serial No. 623 ,199. (No model.)

To all whom, it may concern: 4

Be it known that I, FRIEND J. BRINGHAM, a citizen of the United States, residing at Ohicago, in the county of Cook and State of Illinois,have invented certain 11 ew and useful Improvements in Knives for Splitting Leather, of which the following is a specification, reference being had therein to the accompanying drawings.

My invention relates to knives for splitting leather to form tubes or pockets therein. It is illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which- Figure 1 represents the blade in plan view with part of the shank. Fig. 2 represents an end view. Fig. 3 shows the form of the blade and part of the shank in side elevation.

In forming tubular articles or pockets out of leather, the knife, of whatever form, is thrust into the edge of the leather and in a plane parallel to those of the sides thereof and through to the opposite edge, if a tubular cut or passage is to be made, or to any required distance if simply a pocket is required.

In the single-pointed form of knife heretofore used some difficulty arises in guiding the knife and preventing lateral excess to one edge or the other. This it is important to avoid, especially in case the slit be made through a strap or narrow piece of leather, since the edge might be out too thin or cut through altogether. 'With the knife made single-pointed like a flat arrow-point, this difficulty occurs if one edge or the edge on one side of the central point is sharper than the other. This tends to sway the instrument to one side. To remedy this, Ihave devised a knife of the form shown. It consists prefer to make rounded, as shown.

of a blade A, made and set symmetrical on its 40 the said shank triangular in cross-section, as '45 shown in Fig. 2. The upper surface of the blade is beveled or inclined to the front edge and laterally to the side edges. The front edge is made with areentrant angle, as shown at a, leaving on each side two points I) b. -5o

The extremity of the recess and the points I The forward parts are brought to a cutting edge, but the lateral parallel edges w m are blunt and smooth to form guiding edges.

In the advance of the knife into the leather I find that the leather embraced between the points tends to guide the knife and keep it on a central line, and in the form shown the drawing tendency of the interior edges of the points is in part counterbalanced by the outer slope of the points.

I claim-- 1. A knife for slitting leather, comprising a blade having a double point and cutting edges diverging from said points on each side thereof, substantially as described.

2. A knife for slitting leather comprising a blade having a double point and cutting edges diverging from said points, the concavity between the points being rounded, substantially as described.

In testimony whereof I affix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

FRIENDJ. BRINGHAM. Witnesses:

HENRY E. COOPER, F. L. MIDDLETON. 

